Agent abandons 27 Ethiopians

By PHILIP MWAKIO

Police in Kaloleni District, Kilifi County, are looking for a truck driver who abandoned 27 Ethiopian nationals along the Mombasa-Nairobi highway.

Kaloleni deputy OCPD John Kipyego, said the foreigners appeared in court charged with illegal stay in the country. "We got a tip off from wananchi that a group of foreigners had been abandoned near Mariakani trading centre along the highway and made the arrests," he said.

He added that the foreigners lacked identification documents and through a translator they said they were on their way to South Africa.

They appeared before Mariakani Senior Resident Magistrate and were fined Sh10,000 each for illegal entry or serve a month in default. The court ordered they be deported to Ethiopia.

This comes days after Tanzanian police in Morogoro reported finding 20 Somali nationals dead.

According to media reports, Morogoro Regional Police commander, Ms Adolphina Chialo, the bodies were discovered in a bush and were suspected to have been suffocated.